Chapter 9. Migrating from RHN to RHSM

Red Hat Network is nearing end of life, so existing Red Hat Satellite 5 installations must be migrated to Red Hat Subscription Management. This chapter provides the instructions for migrating an existing Red Hat Satellite 5.6 installation.
Red Hat Satellite 5 currently requires access to Red Hat Network for both subscription registration and content hosting. When a system is registered to Red Hat Network, a system ID is created. The system authenticates to Red Hat Network with its system ID, entitling it to receive updates, errata, and synchronize content. Without a valid system ID, a system cannot receive updates or synchronize content.
Before Red Hat Network is retired, Satellite 5.6 systems must have their registration migrated to Red Hat Subscription Management. When a host is migrated from Red Hat Network to Red Hat Subscription Management, the system ID is deleted, and replaced with a subscription management UUID. Satellite 5.6 systems whose registration has been migrated to Red Hat Subscription Manager will continue to synchronize content with Red Hat Network.
Red Hat Satellite 5.6 can be installed with either an embedded database, a managed database, or an external database. Each of these configurations requires the Satellite 5.6 host's registration to be migrated. A managed database is a Satellite database hosted on its own instance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, itself registered to the Red Hat Network. In the managed database configuration, the managed database host's registration must also be migrated. Hosts managed by the Satellite 5.6 host continue to get their subscriptions and content from the Satellite server.

Warning

Registration migration from Red Hat Network to Red Hat Subscription Manager is a one-way process. Red Hat recommends you take a complete backup of the Satellite 5.6 system prior to proceeding.
To migrate the Satellite 5 host's registration, complete the following procedures:
  1. Procedure 9.1, “ Upgrading the Satellite 5 Database Schema ” (if required).
  2. Procedure 9.2, “ Removing the Satellite 5 Subscription from Red Hat Network ”.
  3. Procedure 9.3, “ Migrating the Satellite 5 Registration ”.
To migrate the Managed Database host's registration, complete the following procedures:
  1. Procedure 9.2, “ Removing the Satellite 5 Subscription from Red Hat Network ”.
  2. Procedure 9.3, “ Migrating the Satellite 5 Registration ”.

Procedure 9.1.  Upgrading the Satellite 5 Database Schema

Before proceeding with the migration, it is important that the Satellite 5 database schema be up to date.

Procedure 9.2.  Removing the Satellite 5 Subscription from Red Hat Network

The Satellite 5 subscription must be removed from Red Hat Network so that the subscription can be applied via Red Hat Subscription Manager.
  1. Open a web browser, log into the Red Hat Customer Portal, click Subscriptions, click Satellite in the list of Subscription Management Applications, then click on the Satellite tab.
  2. Find the desired Satellite instance in the list, and click on the host name.
    Details of the Satellite 5 Subscription

    Figure 9.1. Details of the Satellite 5 Subscription

  3. Click the check box beside the Red Hat Satellite subscription to be migrated, click Remove Selected, then click Remove to confirm.

    Warning

    Remove only the Red Hat Satellite subscription. All other subscriptions must remain.
    The successful removal of the Red Hat Satellite subscription is confirmed by the message: The subscription(s) you selected have been removed.
  4. Click Download Satellite Certificate and save the certificate file locally.
    The Satellite 5 entitlement certificate, contained in the file downloaded, is required in Procedure 9.3, “ Migrating the Satellite 5 Registration ”.

Procedure 9.3.  Migrating the Satellite 5 Registration

  1. Record the Red Hat Network username which was used to register the Red Hat Enterprise Linux instance. This username and its password is required by the migration script. 
    # grep -A1 name\>username /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid
    In this example, the username is admin@example.com. 
    <name>username</name>
<value><string>admin@example.com</string></value>
  2. On the Satellite 5 server, ensure that all packages are current. 
    # yum update
  3. Confirm the version of the spacewalk-backend package is at version 2.0.3-42 or higher.

    Note

    If this is the Managed DB host, skip this step. 
    # rpm -q spacewalk-backend
spacewalk-backend-2.0.3-42.el6sat.noarch

    Warning

    If version 2.0.3-42 (or higher) of spacewalk-backend package is not available, or cannot be installed, do NOT proceed with the migration. Contact Red Hat Support for assistance.
  4. Install the packages subscription-manager and subscription-manager-migration.
    The subscription-manager-migration package contains the Satellite 5 subscription script. 
    # yum install subscription-manager
# yum install subscription-manager-migration
  5. Run the Satellite 5 Red Hat Network to Red Hat Subscription Manager migration script. 
    # rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm
Legacy username: Red Hat Network username
Legacy password:  Red Hat Network password
    The Legacy username and Legacy password are the same credentials which were used to register the server to Red Hat Network. The username was obtained in the prior step.
    Example output from rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm. 
    Retrieving existing legacy subscription information...

+-----------------------------------------------------+
System is currently subscribed to these legacy channels:
+-----------------------------------------------------+
rhel-x86_64-server-6
redhat-rhn-satellite-5.6-server-x86_64-6

+-----------------------------------------------------+
Installing product certificates for these legacy channels:
+-----------------------------------------------------+
rhel-x86_64-server-6
redhat-rhn-satellite-5.6-server-x86_64-6

Product certificates installed successfully to /etc/pki/product.

Preparing to unregister system from legacy server...
System successfully unregistered from legacy server.

Attempting to register system to destination server...
Registering to: subscription.rhsm.redhat.com:443/subscription
The system has been registered with ID: 284e025c-4a60-4084-b49c-4cb26fd7cf93

Installed Product Current Status:
Product Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
Status:       Subscribed

Product Name: Red Hat Satellite
Status:       Subscribed

System 'satellite.example.com' successfully registered.
    The message System 'satellite.example.com' successfully registered. confirms that the Satellite 5 system's migration to Red Hat Subscription Manager has been successful. In this example, the Satellite 5 server has been given a Red Hat Subscription Management UUID of 284e025c-4a60-4084-b49c-4cb26fd7cf93.
  6. Disable all repositories. 
    # subscription-manager repos --disable '*'
  7. Enable only the following repositories.
    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 
    # subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-6-server-rpms
# subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-6-server-satellite-5.6-rpms
    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 
    # subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-5-server-rpms
# subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-5-server-satellite-5.6-rpms
  8. Reactivate the Satellite 5 instance.

    Note

    If this is the Managed DB host, skip this step.
    The rhn-satellite-activate command requires the certificate downloaded in Procedure 9.2, “ Removing the Satellite 5 Subscription from Red Hat Network ”. In this example, the certificate was saved in file Satellite-56.cert. 
    # rhn-satellite-activate -vvv --rhn-cert=Satellite-56.cert
RHN_PARENT: satellite.rhn.redhat.com
    When the Satellite Server is reactivated, you may see the following error message. This is expected, and can be safely ignored, because the systemid file is the Red Hat Network system ID. The system ID file is deleted when the host's registration is migrated to Red Hat Subscription Manager. 
    ERROR: Server not registered? No systemid: /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid
  9. If Satellite is installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, optionally remove the packages which were previously used to communicate with Red Hat Network.

    Warning

    Do not remove the packages if Satellite is installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Removing these packages from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 will result in the failure of Satellite. 
    # yum remove yum-rhn-plugin rhn-check rhn-setup rhnsd